To all who are considering purchasing a Palsonic TV/LCD/PLASMA do yourself a favour and dont.
Apart from their products being terrible and highly over priced, their customer service is appaling.
I purchased a 86WSHDA( 3 year warrenty) for my sister about 18 months ago, the first day she got it the picture was terrible running foxtel digital( some might say figures) then ran a DVD connected through component and the picture was still terrible. There was ghosting on the picture, motion judder was incredible, unwatchable.
After having 3 service agents come out and see the tv got it replaced about 6 months later with a new tv same model.
After having the tv for around 8 months the same problems started to occur, along with another fault we picted up which was a 2 inch scratch on the picture tube itself, this was confirmed by the service agent.
After having the service agent come out and inspect the tv he said it could not be fixed, this was 2 weeks ago.
So after he left we call Palsonic and told them what the service agent said in order to try and get a quick fix, boy was I wrong.
Palsonic told us they need to wait on the report to come through from the service agent which was fair enough and that they would call us as soon as the received it, seems like the right thing to do. 2 days later call Palsonic back only to find out they hadnt received the report yet, im guessing if you worked in customer service you would maybe try and help the customer as in possibly calling the agent to hurry up the process, but I guess im wrong again or maybe I would just be good at the job I dont know, anyway.
So now "I" have to tell the customer service person to call the agent to get this process going, they agree and tell me they will call me back when they get the report, they call back 10 minutes later(nice work palsonic) and tell me they will speak to the customer service manager and get back to us tomorrow.
2 days later I call them AGAIN!!!! and ask for the person I was speaking to the other day onlt to be told they are away sick HMMMM, at this point I dont believe a word they say, so I get put through to another person who assures me he will have an answer by the next day.
The next day, wait until 4pm and no call back so I call them, only to be told the customer service area has just closed for the day, the person I speak to says " Oh the guy your were speaking to still has some calls to mack back to customers" HMMMM what was he doing all day?????
I ask for the customer service managers name they reluctently give it to me.
By this time my sister who actually owns the TV calls him the next day, he tells her he doesnt usually take customer calls, maybe he should check on his staff more often then. Anyway my sister explains the story to him, he gets out the report and straight away starts questioning her telling her the report on lists one fault when the service agent clearly spoted 4!!!. I hear all this as he was on speaker phone, he was being very smart and thought she was trying to put one over on him, after 5 minutes of I guess you could call it arguing he tells her he will call the service agent and confim things and call her back.
He calls back 10 minutes later telling her he was reading the report wrong HMMMM, you can either read or you cant, he proceeds to tell her they will replace the tv with the same model which is no longer produced and after already have 2 lemons this is not an option, my sis tells him get to get back to her tomorrow with a better solution, he says he will.
He calls back the next day being last Friday telling her they will give her the same tv to replace it, all this after she told them NO!!!. He says he will get back to her on Monday, today.
She doesnt wait for him to call and calls him, tells her thats the only option take it or leave it, nice, she just hangs up.
At this point we are out of options, my sister doesnt want the same tv again! nor do i beleive she should accept it.
So the moral of the story is that Palsonic suck their products suck and they are over priced, purchase at your own peril.

Sorry for the long story but I just had to get it out

Feel a little better knowing that everyone on this forum now knows how poor their customer service is and how bad their products are.

Nocode

I suggest if you arent satisfied then fair trading is the only answer.
Before going down that road I would be sending them a copy of the consumer protection code and requesting a refund.
Good luck

My parents have a palsonic 76WSHD. It has an excellent picture (nicer than any plasma i've seen) and was very well priced compared to similar products when they bought it. They've never had a problem with it so l can't comment on the customer service, but this story doesn't surprise me. The process to get my digital camera repaired from Canon is very similar. Don't think most companies aren't like this. At least you had service agents come out and call you now and again. Often you don't get anywhere near this level of service. Very frustrating but is the way of most (not all) companies these days.

Brent:)

I do wish people would hit REPLY at the top of the page or delete the extra lines...

But I agree. If Palsonic has determine the unit has 'failed' under warantee it is then your statutory right to pick the mode of redress - refund or replacement. Read here for more info:

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml...fromItemId/3669

Regards

Peter Gillespie

You think a tv is that important. Phsychologists get 10 days to put in a report about someone suicidal (me) phsichiatrists get 21 days. Shoot the thing and get a new one. Sheesh

You will find that your "dispute" is with the retailer that you purchased the tv from, not the manufacturer. I went through this process myself last year and, after advice from the Australian Consumers' Assn, put my concerns in writing to the retailer and all was eventually resolved to my satisfaction. Try this link for some general advice. If you are Choice Magazine subscriber you can email them, as I did, for more specific legal advice.

Yeah good call extracdigit, it is important to keep these things in perspective. Elsewhere on this forum I've mentioned my (current) 'dramas' with a palsonic and the fact that I'm having an extension done at the moment and have had to take down antenna and satellite dish and am living without tv right now (in a house with six kids).

BIG DEAL

Imagine being a parent of one of those poor kids in Mildura...or of one of those school kids in the mudslide in the Phillipines etc etc etc

xtractdigit, my wife's mother and a number of her brothers and sisters are in not disimilar situation to yourself. I won't pretend to understand what you and they go through, but our teatment of these issues is worse than deplorable. And you're bloody right...the TV is not that important.

Cheers and look after yourself

blairy

My Palsonic 50 inch plasma rocks. I think they are a great product and the customer serviced i required once, they sent a person out the next day. So I support them.

For a start, how can you call the cheapest 86cm TV sold in Oz at the time overpriced?
Other competing “Big Brand Name” products cost MUCH more.
When you buy an el cheapo product, it is unreasonable to expect five star after sales service, when you where not prepared to pay for it.
I consider the response you received quite reasonable, and you have no right to expect a refund.
The warranty provider has the right to repair or replace at THEIR discretion.
If they are unable to do either, they should offer a refund through the seller.
I would not expect any better after sales service from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba etc, when you had payed them two or three times the price for one of their products.

Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but a reality check is in order.

What a load of Bollocks! a TV no matter what its price or size is expected to last a certain amount of time without needing repair.

Also it not a matter of which brand you own Sony or Palsonic its who you speak to thats of most importance as ive found out. (But to be honest big corporations dont give a toss until you reach upper management or someone who wants to get there)

You people make me laugh, Bollocks..... lol

You need to negotiate with the retailer for:

Refund
Replacement
Repair

If you (and the retailer) cannot agree on a course of remedy then you need to escalate it to the office of consumer and business affairs in your state.

Ive been through the process many times and the consumer rights (statuatory condition, and statuatory warranty) are leglislative requirements placed onto the retailer that exceed any warranty or wording in their premisis (no refunds etc etc). Your consumer rights cannot be bypassed, reduced or fobbed off. Do not be passed off to the manufacturer - the leglislation is for the sales contract - a contract of sale for goods or services between YOU and the RETAILER. The manufacturer provides WARRANTY and only WARRANTY. You do not need to invoke warranty (warranty is to repair or replace).

There are a couple of ways to go, however they all end up the same - so you might as well not loose your cool and get abusive etc (it doesnt help in the end).

Talk to the retailer, tell them the course of events (document them) especially tell them that you have had a replcement and that the replacement is also defective. State to the retailer than they have breached your statuartory conditions (goods must be defect free and of merchantable quality), and as such you want to cancel the sales contract and be refunded for the defective goods. If they do not agree ask them to put their position in writing such that you can raise the matter with the office of consumer and business affirs (the name of this office varies state to state)

Contact the office of consumer and business affirs in your state, forward them the chain of events, the fact that you cannot reach an agreement and the letter from the retailer refusing a refund.

They will then advise you on how to proceed, or act on your behalf.

I get really sick of hearing about retailers either not knowing the law, or relying on consumers lack of knowledge (of the law) and pushing them into a situation that is to the retailers advantage.

PS: You will get all sorts of rubbish excuses about having to wait for authorisation from the manufacturer for replacement stock or a credit etc etc etc - tell them you dont care about their arrangements with the manufacturer - you are disussing the sales contract between you and the retailer. Retailers do this so they can be assured the manufacturer will give them a credit/replcaement stock for the defective goods (your tv here) the retailer is going to return to them - again this isnt your problem. You can cut them some slack if you feel like it if they agree to a refund - it depends if theyve been rude or helpful :-)

Bitey